


Timing is Everything

by distractionpie



Series: JeanMarco Revival 2019 [7]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Meet the Family, Proposals, interruptions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-18 18:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21281303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Bringing their families together for the first time has Jean more than a little nervous, and Marco's reassurances can only be so much help when he doesn't know the true reasons for Jean's stress.Stress that leads to him making a vital mistake.
Relationships: Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Series: JeanMarco Revival 2019 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1523438
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Timing is Everything

The dinner is all prepped, ingredients chopped and laid out ready for cooking. Thankfully, both Marco’s parents and his mother will be staying in a nearby hotel for the weekend so they don’t have to worry about making up guest beds

Jean is nervous as hell.

They’ve both met each other's parents before, and Marco's family seemed to have warmed to him well enough, though he suspected that was more a byproduct of Marco's commitment to talking him up than any part of the first impression he'd made. And his mom adored Marco. Obviously.

But this is a big occasion and he needs more than ever to make a good impression, which means not embarrassing himself, not letting him mom embarrass him with well-meaning anecdotes about his adolescent fuck ups, and somehow also not having a nervous meltdown

So he probably shouldn’t be pacing up and down the hallway, frantically searching for things that might need fixing before Marco’s parents arrive.

“This isn’t a big deal,” Marco says, stepping in front of Jean and forcing him to a halt, soothing hands falling onto Jean’s shoulders. “It’s just a weekend visit. They’ve all been here before, and I’m sure our parents will get along.”

Jean examines his expression for a moment. Marco has a particular knack for delivering the most ridiculous comments with such wide-eyed guileless sincerity that it made people feel guilty to doubt him and was more inclined than most people realised to use that gift for mischief. But Jean knows Marco inside out and back to front, is one of the privileged few to get to see all sides of his personality, has learned to recognise the slow simmer of his temper and the sparkle in his eyes when he's indulging in trickery, and his reassurance seems entirely earnest.

"That," he explains, "is one of the exact things I'm dreading."

Jean knows his mother. There is nothing less than a 100% chance she’ll have baby albums somewhere in her luggage and, while he likes Mrs. Bodt, he wouldn’t put it past Marco’s mother to do the same. And that’s before they even get started on the news he’s hoping to break if he succeeds in the real aim of this trip, which is getting a little time to talk alone with Marco’s parents.

“Everything is going to be fine, Jean,” Marco assures him, and if it were just a casual visit then maybe Jean would believe him but Marco doesn’t know what Jean’s real reasons for planning this weekend were. “Why would our parents getting along be a bad thing? I already know my mom is looking forward to trying your family treacle tart recipe and my dad is looking forward to having somebody to share his old stories with who hasn’t already heard them a thousand times.”

Oh hell. He says that like it’s a good thing. He probably thinks Jean’s mom breaking out the pictures of him as a chubby child is cute rather than a mortifying brand of parental revenge for everything Jean put her through in his teenage years.

“My parents love you, so they’re bound to get along with your mom, and your mom has always seemed okay with me…”

Marco trails off, as if there were any doubt whatsoever about how Jean’s mother felt about him.

“She’s so determined to have you as a son that if I wasn’t already going to marry you I’d be worried she’d use this weekend as an excuse to ask your mom if she’s willing to do a swap.”

“You’re… going to marry me?” Marco echoes, slack-jawed.

Oh.

Whoops.

Cursing, Jean spends a moment wondering if he can take that sentence back. He’s spent weeks working on this, figuring out Marco’s finger size in terms he can share with a jeweller rather than just 'two are thick enough to drive him insane when Marco is in a teasing mood', shopping for the perfect ring, making plans to bring Marco’s parents here for the weekend because he knows Marco will want their blessing, and inviting his own mother so she isn’t left out. And now, with hours to go before he’d planned on asking, he’s fucked up.

“I…” he’d planned a better moment than this. Planned to have won Marco’s family’s approval in advance so Marco has no reason to hesitate. He’d at least hoped to make it romantic. But there’s a little velvet box that’s been weighing heavy in his pocket for days, and now he’s raised the issue it would be pretty shitty to leave Marco hanging. “Crap, alright… here goes…”

Taking a deep breath and trying to compose himself, Jean pulls the ring box from his pocket and sinks to one knee.

“Marco, you’re amazing,” he begins, one of the few lines of his planned declaration that will still work. “I watched a bunch of sappy movies trying to find the inspiration to make this good, and the one line I kept hearing was ‘will you make me the happiest person in the world?’, but you already do that for me and being with you always will, no matter what answer you give me today. You also make me safe and comfortable like nobody else does, which I love, but also means I can’t keep a secret from you to save my life, which is how you end up with me doing asshole things like botching this whole thing by mentioning it too early.”

“Jean…” Marco’s eyes are wide and soft, his fingers trembling as he reaches for the ring Jean is offering.

“No, let me finish,” Jean pleads. “I’ve screwed up every other part of this plan, but you at least ought to hear this. You are the best person I know and so much more than an asshole like me deserves, I must have been some big damn giant-slaying hero in a past life for the universe to have decided to let me have a shot with a guy like you. But if you’ll let me, I wanna spend every day of the rest of this life being the best person I can be for you. I meant to do this with flowers and candlelight, but there isn’t a grand enough gesture in the world to be worthy of you, and I love you, so I’m just going to ask anyway. Marco, will—”

Ding! Ding, ding, ding!

The sudden chime of the doorbell cuts off his words.

A glance at the clock reveals it’s a quarter to six. They’d agreed to meet for dinner at six-ish, so Jean is expecting his mother to come at around ten past, but Marco is a perpetual early bird. Of course he would have excessively punctual parents.

Fuck.

It’s tempting to ignore them and finish his proposal, but leaving them standing in the doorway is not the way he wants to start the visit where he’s planning to ask for their blessing to marry their son. Even if the order is all messed up now.

“This does not count,” Jean decides, shoving the ring box back in his pocket. He’d panicked and acted too fast, but he can be better for Marco. “I’ll try again later, okay? I had plans to do this properly, I’m pretty sure this interruption is fate punishing me for screwing up and then trying to rush things.”

“Jean, it’s fine,” Marco says. “You don’t need to do a whole big thing. Please—”

“But you deserve it,” Jean explains, getting to his feet. His knees are dusty and he leans down to brush them off, because how in the hell is he going to explain that to Marco’s parents? Is ‘I tried to propose to your son but messed up the timing and blew it’ better or worse than if Marco’s parents assume Jean has been on his knees because he’s been blowing their son? Fuck, he really should have vacuumed. His mom is definitely going to notice and comment on that, even if Marco’s parents don’t. “You deserve so much more than I can ever offer, but the least I can do is give you the best I can. That’s why I arranged this whole weekend, alright, I’ll do better, just give me a little patience and I’ll show you.”

He turns towards the door, hoping he won’t look too obviously flustered when he answers it, but he’s interrupted before he can take more than two steps.

“Wait!”

There’s a thud from behind him, and Jean turns, alarmed, only be faced with the sight of Marco, down on one knee and tugging from his pocket a little black box just like the one Jean has just put away. Grinning in that goddawful way that Jean had thought made Marco look goofy when they’d first met and then he’d somehow fallen in love with, Marco holds it out to Jean.

“Jean Kirschtein,” he says, sounding on the verge of laughter as he flips the lid open to reveal an elegant band of braided platinum. “I love you exactly as you are. I don’t want to be patient and I don’t need any big plans, just the word ‘yes’. Will you marry me?”


End file.
